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The AR-15 isn't often used for suicide, but many law-abiding citizens want one anyway

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a column about how the gun-death data showed a very weak correlation with gun-law strictness. I used data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Department of Justice (DoJ) to derive a gun-homicide rate.

In the comments section, a reader pointed me toward more-detailed data from the Center for Disease Control (CDC), which captures death-certificate data from all the states. Despite interference by the National Rifle Association (NRA), the CDC has kept up the basic data, if not research into the details of who, how, and why.

But what we can see from this data is astonishing. First off, the national data — as depicted in this chart done up by Kaiser Family Foundation-backed statehealthfacts.org — looks like an electoral map, with red states (blue on this map) having high gun death rates, and blue states (orange in this case) having low ones.

Without even looking into the detail of gun-law strictness by state, we know that the strict states correlate highly with the (politically) blue states like New York and Massachusetts, and the open-gun-law states match up pretty well with the (politically) red ones.

So, what we learn is that states that in my earlier view of gun homicide showed up with low gun-death rates, like Idaho, lie toward the top of the total death-by-firearm statistics.

Turns out, homogeneity notwithstanding, Mormons don’t shoot each other. They shoot themselves. Nevada is no longer a standout; it’s just in the top 10. Number one in gun deaths is Wyoming, wide open territory for anyone who wants a gun. And the top 10 is filled out by Deep South states Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Tennessee, all with open gun laws.

Massachusetts, with some of the strictest gun laws in the country has by far the lowest gun death rate. And New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut — strict states all — are in the bottom five.

When so-called “self-inflicted” death by gunshot is taken into account, the liberal thesis is supported almost perfectly: more guns, more gun deaths; less guns, less gun deaths. It’s as simple as that.

While this correlation is astonishing, it’s not surprising, since such findings are intuitive. Even Bill from my previous piece likes living in Massachusetts, a safer perch from which to espouse his belief in Second Amendment rights.

Looking deeper into the data, though, shows a second astonishing fact that actually is surprising: just how high the gun-suicide rate really is. The preamble to the CDC’s National Vital Statistics Reports Vol. 60, No. 3 cites firearms as one of the “four major mechanisms of injury in 2009” (the year of the survey), along with poisoning, motor vehicles, and falling. In that year, 59.8% of all “firearm injury deaths” were suicides, and 36.7% were homicides.

Although gun accidents are tragic, and we tend to hear about them (e.g., an 8-year-old boy was killed in Massachusetts in 2008 when a 9mm Micro Uzi machine gun he was playing with at a gun fair kicked back and shot him in the head), accidental gun death is relatively rare, accounting for only 1.8% all gun deaths. “Undetermined” and “legal intervention/war” categories were even less likely, at 0.7% and 1%, respectively.

So, suicide tops homicide by nearly two to one in the gun-death business. What the heck is going on?

Since the NRA has steadfastly stood against learning anything systematic about this well-documented phenomenon, we don’t really know what’s happening and why. But I will venture a guess or two.

Guns make death easy. That is, it’s not technically hard to pull a trigger. A law abiding citizen in despair chooses not to kill the object of his anger (the wife run off, the humiliating plant manager, the rival for the girl’s affection, the gods themselves for ruining the harvest) and instead turns his anger inward. What means does he have? Poisoning (horrible, painful), vehicle into tree or off cliff (no guarantee of results), knife in the belly (that’s for Samurai), overdose (maybe, but, again, no guarantee), jump off a high place (takes a lot of nerve), suffocation (on yourself? really?), and gunshot.

Gunshot to the head is nearly foolproof, with in-the-mouth the method of choice. I’ll wager that most of these self-inflicted gun deaths are done with a handgun, which is easier to wield. However, for those with access to only a rifle, there’s always removing your shoes, placing the stock on the floor, leaning over the barrel, and working the trigger with your toes.

It’s just one quick moment of decisiveness, and you’re done.

So, as we enter further into the debate about gun laws, it is good to keep in mind that, while spectacular massacres with exotic weapons generate headlines, the real numbers are composed of pensive ranchers and despondent farmers, facing drought, bankruptcy, and loss, who give up fighting the forces they see arrayed against them and take the nearest exit.